Klimkin on referendum in Donbas: This is "rehearsal" of collapse of Ukraine

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Pavlo Klimkin, condemned the Kremlin's intention to hold a referendum in the occupied Donbas because of the impossibility of free and fair expression of will in this region under current conditions. He wrote about this on July 20 on his Facebook page.

"Nobody, literally nobody believes in any possibility of free and fair will expression in Donbas in the conditions of Russian occupation," Klimkin stated.

At the same time, the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry is convinced that Donbas as such does not interest Russia. Just like the citizens who live in this region.

According to Klimkin, the goal of the Russian authorities' statements on changing the status of Donbas and the federalization of Ukraine is the collapse of Ukraine. "This is a kind of" rehearsal ", which the Kremlin regime will push to ruin our country. They will not succeed!" he wrote.

Earlier in the White House, they said they did not consider supporting Putin's idea for a new referendum in eastern Ukraine.

We recall, the Bloomberg, citing sources, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting with Donald Trump in Helsinki proposed a referendum in Donbas. According to one of the interlocutors, Trump asked Putin not to discuss the idea of a referendum at a press conference after the summit, to give the US president time to think about this idea. The source added that Putin offered to organize a vote among local residents of Donbas on the status of their region. All this should happen under the auspices of the international community.

Sources in Russia argue that such a referendum should not provide for a "Crimean scenario," it can only decide about the autonomy of the Donbas within Ukraine.